Novella book recommendations : the list

I listed all the book titles left in the comments and also the list of novellas from Mrs Bibi Lophile’s A Novella a Day In May. Lisa from ANZ LitLovers has a list of novellas on her blog. (See here) Jonathan Gibbs from Tiny Camels also had novella reading challenge, see here. I’m sure there are other blogs with challenges like this or lists of novellas but these are the ones I’m aware of.

Thanks a lot for responding to my post.

Now apart from Lisa’s and Jonathan’s list, let’s see what I gathered:

#

French title

English title

Author

Country

# pages

1

La partie de cartes

The Game of Cards

Adolf Schröder

Germany

178

2

Non traduit

Such Small Hands

Andres Barbas

Spain

112

3

Parler seul

Talking to Ourselves

Andrés Neuman

Argentina

168

4

La steppe. Histoire d’un voyage

The Steppe

Anton Chekhov

Russia

160

5

Pereira prétend

Pereira Maintains

Antonio Tabucchi

Italy

213

6

Nocturne indien

Indian Nocturne

Antonio Tabucchi

Italy

126

7

Un bref mariage

The Story of a Brief Marriage

Anuk Arudpragasam

Sri Lanka

208

8

Non traduit

Our Spoons Came From Woolworth

Barbara Comyns

UK

9

Les boutiques de cannelle

The Street of Crocodiles

Bruno Schulz

Poland

208

10

Djamilia

Jamilia

Chingiz Aitmatov

Russia

96

11

Un homme au singulier

A Single Man

Christopher Isherwood

UK

175

12

Le blé en herbe

The Ripening Seed

Colette

France

13

Les aventures de Kornél Esti

Kornél Esti

Dezső Kosztolányi

Hungary

154

14

Non traduit

Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill

Dimitri Verhulst

Belgium

160

15

Non traduit

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal

Dorothy Nors

Denmark

188

16

Psaumes balbutiés. Livre d’heures de ma mère

Stammered Songbook : A Mother’s Book of Hours

Erwin Mortier

Belgium

192

17

Le brigand bien-aimé

The Robber Bridgegroom

Eudora Welty

USA

144

18

L’oncle Daniel le généreux

The Ponder Heart

Eudora Welty

USA

132

19

La troisième Miss Symons

The Third Miss Symons

FM Mayor

UK

127

20

Le dimanche des mères

Mothering Sunday

Graham Swift

UK

141

21

Les années douces

Strange Weather in Tokyo

Hiromi Kawakami

Japan

283

22

Contes hassidiques

Not available in English

I.L. Peretz

Poland

171

23

Sur la plage de Chesil

On Chesil Beach

Ian McEwan

UK

183

24

Un Bonheur de Rencontre

The Comfort of Strangers

Ian McEwan

UK

217

25

Non traduit

After Claude

Iris Owens

USA

232

26

Le restaurant de l’amour retrouvé

The Restaurant of Love Regained

Ito Ogawa

Japan

224

27

Premier amour et autres histoires

First Love

Ivan Turgenev

Russia

28

Non traduit

After Leaving Mr Mackenzie

Jean Rhys

UK

29

Voyage dans les ténèbres

Voyage in the Dark

Jean Rhys

UK

207

30

Quartet

Quartet

Jean Rhys

UK

144

31

Non traduit

We who are about to…

Joanna Russ

USA

144

32

La maison muette

The Dumb House

John Burnside

UK

208

33

Hôtel Savoy

Hotel Savoy

Josef Roth

Austria

188

34

Si nous vivions dans un endroit normal

Quesadillas

Juan Pablo Villalobos

Mexico

192

35

La compagnie des Tripolitaines

Under the Tripoli Sun

Kamel Ben Hameda

Lybia

108

36

Comédie en mode mineur

Comedy in a Minor Key

Keilson

Germany

227

37

Code barre

Not available in English

Krisztina Tóth

Hungary

208

38

La mer couleur de vin

The Wine-dark Sea

Leonardo Sciascia

Italy

210

39

Un regard de sang

Seeing Red

Lina Meruane

Chile

224

40

Non traduit

Birds of America

Lorrie Moore

USA

291

41

La femme de Gilles

La Femme de Gilles

Madeleine Bourdouxhe

Belgium

154

42

L’Odyssée de Pénélope

The Penelopiad

Margaret Atwood

Canada

159

43

Ours

Bear

Marian Engel

Canada

141

44

La douleur porte un costume de plumes

Grief is the Thing With Feathers

Max Porter

UK

114

45

La Solution finale

The Final Solution

Michael Chabon

USA

105

46

Demoiselles aux moyens modestes

The Girls of Slender Means

Muriel Sparks

UK

170

47

L’empreinte de l’ange

The Mark of an Angel

Nancy Huston

Canada

328

48

La poursuite de l’amour

The Pursuit of Love

Nancy Mitford

UK

253

49

Non traduit

Up the Junction

Nell Dunn

UK

133

50

La couleur du lait

The Colour of Milk

Nell Leyshon

UK

186

51

Clair-obscur

Passing

Nella Larsen

USA

122

52

Non traduit

Devil by the Sea

Nina Bawden

UK

175

53

Falaises

Cliffs

Olivier Adam

France

206

54

La Théorie du panda

The Panda Theory

Pascal Garnier

France

176

55

L’affaire Lolita

The Bookshop

Penelope Fitzgerald

UK

188

56

Le mangeur de citrouille

The Pumpkin Eater

Penelope Mortimer

UK

184

57

Non traduit

The Murder of Halland

Pia Juul

Denmark

167

58

Non traduit

The Disappearance of Signora Giulia

Piero Chiara

Italy

128

59

Le retour du soldat

The Return of the Soldier

Rebecca West.

UK

112

60

Non traduit

Two Pints

Roddy Doyle

UK

85

61

Le son de ma voix

The Sound of My Voice

Ron Butlin

UK

122

62

Les braises

Ashes

Sándor Márai

Hungary

219

63

L’héritage d’Esther

Esther’s Inheritance

Sándor Márai

Hungary

156

64

Piège pour Cendrillon

Trap for Cinderella

Sebastien Japrisot

France

240

65

Non traduit

Stuck Like Lint

Shefali Tripathi Mehta

India

156

66

Nous avons toujours vécu au château

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Shirley Jackson

USA

234

67

Le garçon qui n’existait pas

Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was

Sjón

Iceland

150

68

La cote 400

The Library of Unrequited Love

Sophie Divry

France

94

69

Lettre d’une inconnue

Letter from an Unknown Woman

Stefan Zweig

Austria

138

70

Le voyage dans le passé

Journey into the Past

Stefan Zweig

Austria

177

71

Le chat qui venait du ciel

The Guest Cat

Takashi Hiraide

Japan

130

72

La sonate à Kreutzer

The Kreutzer Sonata

Tolstoy

Russia

122

73

Au commencement était la mer

In the Beginning was the Sea

Tomás González

Colombia

221

74

La passe dangereuse

The Painted Veil

W. Somerset Maugham

UK

182

75

Le pont d’Alexandre

Alexander’s Bridge

Willa Cather

USA

176

76

Une dame perdue

A Lost Lady

Willa Cather

USA

190

77

Non traduit

They Came Like Swallows

William Maxwell

USA

140

78

En lisant Tourgeniev

Reading Turgeniev

William Trevor

UK

236

79

Ma Maison en Ombrie

My House in Umbria

William Trevor

UK

188

80

La piscine

The Diving Pool

Yoko Ogawa

Japan

71

81

La formule préférée du professeur

The Housekeeper and the Professor

Yoko Ogawa

Japan

244

I’m sure anyone can find some reading bliss among all these books. The numbers in blue correspond to books I’ve already read. As you can see, I have a lot to explore.

Like this:

Some wonderful novellas here and also many I haven’t read – I’m thinking of doing novellas next May too, so I will definitely be returning to this post many times 🙂 Thank you for such a great resource!

I also have a list of novellas on my blog – via the Novella tag in my sidebar – it includes Novellas I’ve reviewed, plus one or two specific posts about novellas. the definition is interesting actually because doing it by pages, which is roughly how I do it, isn’t quite right given printing and the wide variety in words per page. I made 200 pages my rough limit, though a couple go over, and I think some 200 page books are well in excess of the technical definition which is, as I understand it, by word count. (But, what readers count words!!)

But, technicality aside, I love your list. Quite a few new ones for me in there!

Thanks for mentioning the Novella tag on your blog.
The definition isn’t clear but for me too, it’s around 200 pages. The thing is, French requests more words than English. So a 200 pages English book will be more than 200 pages in French because of the language.
And then, there’s the size of paperbacks: French ones are usually smaller.
In the end, a Penguin 200 pages book will be a lot more than 200 pages in its French paperback Folio edition.
Take Quartet by Jean Rhys: 144 pages in Penguin, 188 pages in Folio. +30%

Yes, you can also hear the difference when you listen to interpreters. But they don’t always translate everything. They don’t have time.
French is longer because of its structure but also because there are less words than in English. Where you have one verb (like: to elope), we’ll have a phrase because there’s no precise verb for it.

Oh, oh, oh, there are two by William Trevor! I just love William Trevor’s writing!

Someone, I can’t remember who, hosted a meme called Novellas in November, which I thought was a terrific idea, because everybody is so busy in the leadup to Christmas, a short novel can be just what is needed at that time. This list would certainly come in handy if the meme comes back again:)

I have not been able to find the table of contents for Contes hassidiques, but my guess, based on the length, is that all or almost all of it can be found in English in The I. L. Peretz Reader, a marvelous book.

I finally came up with an author and novella that isn’t on your list. Of course just about everything Muriel Spark and Penelope Fitzgerald wrote could be considered novellas, and since you have both of them on your list that is fine. However one of my favorite novellas is ‘The Visitor’ by Maeve Brennan.